designbum
XS650 Enthusiast
Yesterday was beautiful so I decided to do a shake down run on my recently finished XS2. I decided to ride to Milwaukie, Oregon to visit my daughter who is recovering from surgery. It’s about a 25 mile round trip from my home and well I’ve got Triple A and my cell phone. The bike ran really great. Strong through the gears. I was pleased. After all it had been sitting in a garage for 6 years.
Ok. Visit complete, I headed back home hoping to avoid evening traffic. I ride back streets so all seemed good. I ran into a construction area routing traffic and became stuck in traffic as it was one lane. I just happened to look down at my left carburetor and saw smoke coming from the cable at the carb. The plastic jacket on the cable was starting to melt. I had my gloves on so I instantly pulled at the cable and the cable ferrule let go and ended the short. I’m thinking I’ll be walking now. I stripped the jacket from the cable and threw it to the side of the road. I just left the cable hanging. With nothing to loose, I was thinking I could have blown up if it had shorted against the tank, I started the bike again and it ran and nothing else was happening. Traffic started moving and unbelievably I had enough power from one cylinder to move down the road using only 1st and 2nd. I had nothing to lose so I proceeded to head home. Long story short, I made it and the clutch wasn’t even slipping.
I immediately pulled the tank thinking a big bare wire had rubbed against something but there was nothing but the spark plug wire with a big chunk of outer insulation missing, but no exposed wire. The wire also had some of the gray lining from the cable bound to it. I run a dual wire coil and am setup with the lost spark and points. I have checked everywhere and see no evidence of a short. I have my main power fused as well as my reg/alt. I’m lost. I plan on pulling the carbs and looking deeper for burnt wires. I have rewired some of the the bike and soldered most connectors that looked suspect along with shrink wrap. The wires are all taped into a loom and run along side of the backbone of the frame. I can’t think of what I could have done wrong but then again I’m the master of screwing things up. The bike has sat over night and does not show a power drain. I started it up briefly today and it sounded fine. Can the spark plug wire create a short even through primary insulation? I’m wondering if the spring over the throttle cable possibly was pinched against the plug wire when I installed the tank the last time. Meanwhile I’ll be ordering new cables as the right one shows signs of melting also. Tomorrow, off with the carbs to dig deeper. I did discover my right carb is grounded but the left is showing something like .04 volts. Weird. I suspect a grounded carb really doesn’t mean anything unless it hits a hot wire. Any you guys ever ground a throttle cable? Thoughts, comments, and criticism accepted.
Ok. Visit complete, I headed back home hoping to avoid evening traffic. I ride back streets so all seemed good. I ran into a construction area routing traffic and became stuck in traffic as it was one lane. I just happened to look down at my left carburetor and saw smoke coming from the cable at the carb. The plastic jacket on the cable was starting to melt. I had my gloves on so I instantly pulled at the cable and the cable ferrule let go and ended the short. I’m thinking I’ll be walking now. I stripped the jacket from the cable and threw it to the side of the road. I just left the cable hanging. With nothing to loose, I was thinking I could have blown up if it had shorted against the tank, I started the bike again and it ran and nothing else was happening. Traffic started moving and unbelievably I had enough power from one cylinder to move down the road using only 1st and 2nd. I had nothing to lose so I proceeded to head home. Long story short, I made it and the clutch wasn’t even slipping.
I immediately pulled the tank thinking a big bare wire had rubbed against something but there was nothing but the spark plug wire with a big chunk of outer insulation missing, but no exposed wire. The wire also had some of the gray lining from the cable bound to it. I run a dual wire coil and am setup with the lost spark and points. I have checked everywhere and see no evidence of a short. I have my main power fused as well as my reg/alt. I’m lost. I plan on pulling the carbs and looking deeper for burnt wires. I have rewired some of the the bike and soldered most connectors that looked suspect along with shrink wrap. The wires are all taped into a loom and run along side of the backbone of the frame. I can’t think of what I could have done wrong but then again I’m the master of screwing things up. The bike has sat over night and does not show a power drain. I started it up briefly today and it sounded fine. Can the spark plug wire create a short even through primary insulation? I’m wondering if the spring over the throttle cable possibly was pinched against the plug wire when I installed the tank the last time. Meanwhile I’ll be ordering new cables as the right one shows signs of melting also. Tomorrow, off with the carbs to dig deeper. I did discover my right carb is grounded but the left is showing something like .04 volts. Weird. I suspect a grounded carb really doesn’t mean anything unless it hits a hot wire. Any you guys ever ground a throttle cable? Thoughts, comments, and criticism accepted.